roy held his head down for a moment, a huff of air fell from his pursed lips before he looked back at jade, maybe now wasn’t the right time to attempt some sort of witty remark, though with her he wasn’t entirely sure there was ever a time for that. just like pretty much every other aspect of his life, this situation was a mess and not one he could query his friends about. undoubtedly the archer was ecstatic to see his daughter again, but considering the circumstances he couldn’t help but wonder whether this was the safest place for her. however with the sentinels, perhaps the twenty-first century wasn’t either. nevertheless, despite the conflictions in his and jade’s ethics, lian was the sole reason he could never regret his relationship with cheshire. though regardless of what others may think, he wasn’t sure he would’ve regretted it before he knew about their child either. even if she had been the enemy at the time, roy believed he loved her and that maybe — at the time, there was a thread of hope that the assassin felt the same way.
“chesh, that’s not what i meant.” he finally admitted, tilting his head back as he reached to scratch at the nape of his neck.. “i mean — this, y'know.” he shrugged, bring his hand back down. “comin’ here. if i knew you were gonna show up with lian then i woulda stayed behind. you coulda said something and i would’ve looked after her instead of —” roy took pause, halting his verbose before he could say something that would potentially harm the somewhat sincere exchange between them. he bared a halfhearted smile, which soon faltered. “it doesn’t matter. guess it’s in the past now, kinda like us — y’know, literally.”
jade is aware that her past actions didn’t create any kind of implication that she would be a good significant other, let alone a good mother to her child. she wasn’t fooling anyone, especially not herself, and this was something she carried with her day to day. she had always been so selfish and flighty, not a care in the world as to what others thought of her, or how her actions would affect them once she disappeared from their lives, like the cheshire cat. but she could never let go of roy the way she had others. not only did he give her one of her greatest possessions but he seemed to love her, truly love her, despite just how horrible she was capable of being. “right,” she feigns her belief, wishing to remove herself from the topic altogether.
“i know it wasn’t my smartest decision, red. but at this point it was choosing the lesser of two evils.” jade looks up at him for the first time since their exchange began, a hand reaching to just barely press against the dimple in his cheek. “and this option had you, so.” she can feel her walls breaking down around the archer and despite her usual instinct to cement herself away from the world, she’s allowing it. “you deserve to see lian. i’m sorry that in order to do so, that means seeing me, too.”
